Black boys’ thoughts on improving schools

Leslie Quigless

I Introduction    

According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)1,  each racial/ethnic group in the United States scores higher than the international average in reading—with the exception of Black fourth graders. Within the country, however, 25 percent of white fourth graders reach the top 10 percent benchmark in reading scores, as compared with six percent of black fourth graders. Combined with the fact that girls scored higher internationally and within the United States, it can be inferred that black male fourth graders score lower than black females and white students of both genders. Furthermore, the NCES reports that black students are performing lower in math and reading at every grade level studied (NCES, 2001)2. 

As demonstrated by the data, schools are failing black students—particularly black boys. Black males also are more likely than black girls and white students to be placed in educable mentally retarded classes and underrepresented in gifted and talented programs (Reed, 1988)3. Black boys are suspended from school longer and more repeatedly than black girls and white students (Reed, 1988).  

It has been shown that the failure of schools to provide an equitable educational opportunity for black boys can be connected to a failure to navigate societal/legal norms. A substantial number lack boys who fail in school—or rather, whom school fails—become a substantial number of black men in the US who are incarcerated. 

 Not surprisingly, then, the numbers for black men are grim as well. According to the

American Council on Education and the National Research Council, 40 percent of all adult African American men are functionally illiterate (Jaynes &Williams, 1989, cited in Leake 1992)4. And for too many adult black males, incarceration is the norm. Census data compiled by the Human Rights Watch5 also shows that in 12 states, between 10 and 15 percent of the black men in those states are incarcerated; and with the exception of North Dakota, there are more black men in every state in prison than white or Hispanic men.  

Black males in America, then, are in dire need of better schools. As an educator and future school leader, I wanted to find out what schools could do to better help black boys, as the data indicates that the educational system is failing them, and that they go on as black men to have fewer options in life, in significant part because of this failure. As part of my research, I wanted to interview black boys to find out what they had to say about school improvement. But I realized while discussing this issue with them how much I could learn by focusing my research on what recommendations they had and comparing them to experts’ recommendations for better schools for black boys. I wanted to see what the problems—and solutions—were from the perspective of the so-called “problem-havers,” whose voice I believe is grossly undervalued and goes unrecognized. 

The aim of my research, then, was to answer the following question: What recommendations do black boys have for school improvement?   Literature Review 

The literature suggests that school leaders can most help black boys by setting a caring climate in which trust and bonding between students and students and faculty can flourish; changing disciplinary action; establishing curriculum that engages students’ culture; and taking care not to further marginalize them through efforts that are intended to help, but effectively isolate these students. Understanding black boys is essential  

What is essential before doing anything to attempt to help black boys, however, is to understand their actions and the problems they have and are perceived to have (Noguera6, 1996, Garibaldi7, 1992). Noguera (1996) suggests that problems with black boys have been thought of in terms of race and gender instead of social forces and that, therefore, solutions have been focused similarly.        

But these simplified solutions imply that race and gender in and of themselves alone responsible for the current plight of black boys, and not racism and the peculiar combination, in the case of black boys, of gender discrimination as well. Those who genuinely want to help black boys but focus erroneously on characteristics that cannot be changed must understand that "if one rejects the notion that race is the cause of student failure, one must also be critical of any effort that overemphasizes the role of race as a prescription for amelioration" (p. 234). 

Noguera8 (2003) also asserts that black males act in ways that they are aware contribute to academic and social disenfranchisement (p.437); the first key for school leaders being able to help them is to know this; and then, seek to understand why they behave this way. Noguera notes that structural forces powerfully shape many black boys’ lives in ways they cannot control, but that all students have some agency and can work to help themselves. 

Because of this agency, school leaders also need to understand how to influence black boys’ behavior; indeed, “the importance of understanding how to influence behavior cannot be understated” (p. 452). Programs intending to help black boys, then, should include components that actively involve them and their families in improving their lives, since their actions do directly impact what occurs in their lives (p.437). 

To summarize, school leaders need to first see black boys’ problems as functions of socially structured problems they are responding to, and not problems inherent in the “black boy” race and gender combination. From there, school leaders need to then seek out black boys to understand their actions and motivations. This understanding of motivation should inform any programs or interventions that would seek influence black boys’ behavior positively. Dangers thinking separate for black boys 

Noguera (1996) warns that school programs that seek to help black boys by separating them from other students can harm them, because such isolation can be stigmatizing and remove them from mainstream programs that would be beneficial (p. 222). And again, separating them on the basis of race and gender could be part of the common mistaken assumption that those two categories in themselves are the problem. Furthermore, “regardless, of how benevolent or well-intentioned such efforts may seem, history would suggest that great risks are involved in advocating and promoting separate treatment for African Americans, be they male or female” (p.222).  

It is therefore essential, then, that school leaders consider, or possibly reconsider, any intervention that focuses specifically on black boys, and take care that it actually helps the population it is intended to help. Creating a caring environment 

Noguera (2003) calls changing the culture of schools to be more caring the most important factor in helping black males achieve more academically (pp. 455, 456) and cites research by Sizemore (1988) that an “ethos of caring” (p. 450) permeates effective schools for low-income African American students. 

In their paper on how schools can prevent substance abuse in black boys, Haynes9, Troutman and Nwachuku (1998) say that school climate is a major component.  

School leaders must create culture in which trust and bonding between students and students and faculty are the norm (p.148). Haynes, et al. (1998) cite a 1991 study by Kumpfer and Turner (1991) that found that school climate has significant indirect influence on drug use. School bonding for black males, then, “is a critical factor in drug use prevention” (p. 148). 

 Haynes, et al. (1998) assert that school leaders need to structure schools so that everyone within it—and parents—share a stake in how they are run. The decision-making processes of the school should be defined by the following principles: “consensus, no fault/no blame, and collaboration” (p.150).  

Another aspect necessary to promote a caring climate—particularly for “poor and nonmainstream children” (p.151)—is a mental health care component within schools. Having this component can help students develop much-needed life coping strategies.  Rethinking disciplinary action and retention policies 

The literature suggests that disciplinary action toward black boys is handled in such a way that hurts them academically.  

In presenting results based on the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, conducted by the National Center for Educational Statistics, Davis & Jordan10 (1994) found that the ways schools structure disciplinary action “explain important differences in achievement and behavioral outcomes for African American males. Moreover, these factors are essential in fostering Black males’ transition from middle school to high school” (p. 586). 

Davis used data from the study, which included a random sample of 25,000 eighth graders in 1,000 schools. Students were followed up at two-year intervals. Davis used “all the African American male 8th graders surveyed in the base year of the NELS:88  study and all the African American male 10th graders surveyed in the first follow-up” (p. 572). Davis tracked 1,471 African American males from the base year of the study .  

In the study, Davis(1994) found that an emphasis on discipline in middle schools correlates with lower achievement for African American males (p. 584). He also found that black boys’ high school grades are affected by suspension (p. 583) because “many students cannot view sanctions against their behavior as being separate from sanctions against their individual self” (p. 586). 

Retention also negatively affected black males’achievement in middle and high school (p.583, 584, 585). Because of this, Davis asserts, school leaders and policy makers should rethink these policies, since they are most harmful to those that need the most help (p. 586).   Curriculum 

In West’s11 (1985) study of 30 urban elementary schools in New Jersey, she found that math achievement was higher in those schools in which basic computing skills were emphasized over social development skills and instructional support was provided to teachers (p. 460). These findings lead West to assert that “basic skills instruction in urban elementary schools promotes higher academic achievement” (p. 461).  

While an emphasis on basic skills has raised achievement in some inner city elementary schools (Hughes12, 1988, p. 273), Noguera (1996) found in a four-year observation at a northern California inner city high school with 67% percent black males  that curriculum changes brought about the greatest change in students’ perceptions of the school and changes in the school itself (p. 229). When the curriculum began “offering a rich and varied curriculum geared toward the diverse interests and ambitions of its students” (p. 229), the students became more responsive to school. Courses such as “Street Law,” “Math in the Modern World,” and “Community-Based Filmmaking,” some taught by volunteers, made the students feel their culture mattered in school, and, therefore, that they mattered in school. 

Noguera (1996), however, does add that curriculum focused around Afrocentric themes is not necessarily enough to engage students, because, as noted above, using race alone to solve black students’, and specifically black boys’, problems, which are not caused inherently by race, can be ineffective. Affirming culture is important, but first, “the other part of the effort, of necessity, had to target finding practical ways to address the specific challenges these student faced growing up in impoverished urban communities” (p. 234).  

The literature also presents examples of programs that focus on problem-solving and decision-making skills (Haynes 1998, p.149) that have been successful with black male students. The idea behind these kinds of programs is to help students develop the ability to be reflective about decisions and less impulsive. It is suggested that these kinds of programs in schools can help “prevent and reduce the socially unacceptable behaviors such as substance abuse, delinquency and violence” (p.149)—behaviors many poor and nonmainstream black boys engage in. Suggestions for further research 

Noguera (2003) suggests research on identity and student attitudes (p. 454); youth culture (p. 454); and enacting emerging black masculinity and how that can conflict with achievement with in school (p.454). Conducting this research will further educators’ understanding of black males, and can therefore help educators understand how identity, culture and emerging masculinity play a role in influencing academic and social behavior in black males. 

Davis (1994) asserts that further research on the relationship between black males’ educational outcomes and school context and structure is necessary. This kind of research can help educators create schools with structures, such as more effective behavior policies, that will support black males in higher academic and social achievement.  II Methodology    Selecting the formats    

To answer my research question, I wanted to gather a group of black boys13 and discuss with them in a group format their opinions on ways schools can be better educationally. I wanted to use a focus group format to see how their ideas were interconnected, and to examine patterns in their school experiences and opinions of how elementary, middle and high schools can improve. 

I also spoke with them in smaller groups of two to three students and as individuals, when possible, about how their suggestions in the focus groups compared with what I had found in the literature regarding school improvement for black boys. Another reason I wanted to use small groups was to break up the format; I noticed after the second focus group that discussions were getting more tangential and that boredom with the topic set in more quickly. I thought that

with smaller groups, discussions could be briefer and that I wouldn’t “lose” the students, especially since the topic was comparative and not based only on their experience.  Codman Academy Charter School  

I decided to use students from Codman Academy High School, where I am an administrative intern this year with Meg Campbell, the head of school. The school has 84 students. Seventy-one percent of the students are African American; 10 percent are Haitian; seven percent are Latino; six percent are Cape Verdean; and two percent each are Asian and white. Seventy-nine percent of the students are on free or reduced lunch. The school day runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with Humanities, a mixture of English and social studies, lasting three hours daily. Other classes run longer than the typical 45 to 50-minute period as well.  

The school, which is located in Dorchester, holds classes in four different buildings within or near Codman Square, and uses facilities within Dorchester so that students can take tennis lessons, play basketball and take classes at the Huntington Theatre. Students also are required to take Saturday elective class from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.  three weekends out of the month. From my observations as an intern, teachers are dedicated, and students enjoy being there. 

There is a deliberate effort to create community, with a weekly Community Circle during which the whole school gathers to discuss issues affecting students; and daily advisory periods, which are focused toward students being able to talk to each other about their lives and issues affecting them. Meg also works to provide counseling for students, as the main building is located within Codman Health Center/Clinic.   She believes strongly that students who act out generally do so out of need for something, and she makes every effort to get students the help and counseling they may need. 

The combination of challenge, caring and community seems to be effective socially and academically as well—last year, 60 percent of the current eleventh graders passed the tenth grade Math MCAS exam; all of them passed the English MCAS exam. I asked if in that number any students were held back and had not passed the test and therefore were not counted as part of the class that passed; I was told that 25 students took the exam; 25 passed it. Incidentally, one student was kept back, but for reasons not connected to test scores; two left the school; and two are in a special education class at the school. Again, though, everyone who took the test passed it. Choosing the boys  

One of the Saturday electives at the school is “Boys to Men.” The elective is run by Juma Crawford, a former biology teacher at the school whom the students respect highly and miss now that he is in his first year of law school at Boston University. “Boys to Men” is, as the name suggests, only for boys. Eleven boys are part of this elective. Juma takes the boys on outings and to various activities to act as a continuing mentor and presence in their lives. For example, one Saturday, the boys met him at Harvard to watch the annual rowing competition. Juma aims to expose the boys to events they would not see otherwise. Having accompanied Juma with the students on one of these Saturday outings, I observed that the boys respect, admire and look up to him. 

I chose to conduct the focus groups using “Boys to Men” because the number of students was appropriate for a focus group; the boys were comfortable to speak in front of each other, as they spent time with each other on Saturdays; and I would have another trusted adult with me during the discussions. I felt this was important because the students did not know me that well,

and I wanted an adult they trusted in their presence so they would feel more comfortable opening up about their experiences. Focus Groups  

The focus group sessions were held in third floor Gutman Library classrooms on two Saturday afternoons in October and November. The sessions lasted an hour and a half and one hour and 15 minutes respectively.  

I began the focus groups by introducing myself (although they recognized me from seeing me in the school office every week) and my project. I told them I was doing a research project on ways schools could better help black boys and that I wanted their input on ways they thought schools could help them. I did not script the discussion beforehand because I wanted the discussion to flow naturally; I did tell the students, however, that I would be pushing for specific ways they thought schools could improve to help them more. 

It very soon became obvious, however, that they first wanted to discuss their own experiences and make suggestions based on them. As that that was a logical way establish their perspective, the first session was based around their experiences in elementary and middle school. It was in the end of the first session and the whole of the second session that they began making recommendations on improving these levels of schooling.  

After reviewing my notes for the first focus group, I began to question my research topic. Originally, my question was on the ways schools could best help black boys specifically; based on what they boys had said about their experiences, however, I wondered if a better question would be on ways schools could be better, period—according to black boys. I noticed that they boys never said they felt their school experiences weren’t negative because they happened to be black and they happened to be boys; they said their school experiences were negative because of school practices. I also recalled Pedro Noguera’s warning about basing school improvements and programs solely on race and gender. Because of this, I began to consider focusing my research on what black boys had to say about ways school could be better. 

I therefore began the second session by asking them if they thought that schools should work to support black boys specifically; or whether schools should focus on being better, and that that would be the best way to support black boys. After some discussion, I saw that they believed the latter. I therefore changed my focus to black boys’ suggestions for school improvement; I already had the information from the first session, so it was easy to change my focus. 

The second session was based more around their high school experiences and recommendations for high school. I also tried to summarize their suggestions for elementary and middle school. Because the students are still in the level of schooling they were discussing during this session, I had to focus them more toward solutions; both sessions, however, were extremely productive and, I felt, yielded results that can be helpful to improving schools period; and improving schools to help black boys more. 

I wanted to keep the focus on their opinions on specific ways to improve schools, so with their experiences, I pushed continually for recommendations. I also pushed to keep their reflections on their experiences from becoming too tangential. I did so by rephrasing their reflections, complaints or experiences in school; by asking what they would suggest based on what they had just commented on; and by at times proposing a specific suggestion for school improvement based on their comment if they were having difficulty articulating one.  

With this last method, however, I made a deliberate effort to give the boys space to disagree and clarify if I was articulating or interpreting something for them correctly. I assured

them that the purpose of our discussions was for me to find out what they thought and that I would not be offended if they disagreed with me. I am confident that although I pushed them for and at times proposed suggestions, they plainly pointed out when they disagreed and clarified I recounted from their statements; I am confident they felt comfortable doing so, especially after the first few minutes of the first session, by which time they could sense I was interested solely in their opinions. Small group/individual interviews  

I wanted to interview at least half of the boys who had participated in the focus groups in smaller settings. I had originally planned to interview each student individually, but I saw that I would have to interview them in small groups of two or three because of scheduling issues. 

I was, however, able to interview one student, Rondell, individually before another student joined us. The first interview consisted of two students for 25 minutes; the second interview consisted of three students for 25 minutes.  

The boys who came were the ones who were available, willing and present in school that day. The five who came had been vocal during the focus group sessions, although there were other students who had been more vocal than the ones who agreed to be interviewed.  

I told the students that the purpose of the interviews was to get their opinion on what researchers had to say were the best practices for schools to help black boys. I then presented the three main characteristics that I found: a caring environment; stimulating curriculum; and a less punitive discipline policy, especially regarding suspension. I asked the boys their opinions on these three items and then asked how they thought these items related to students’ success in school academically and socially. 

As with the focus groups, I had before me only my focus question, my presentation of my research findings and my prompts for their opinions. I found this approach worked well because the boys’ comments and the discussion flowed in an organic and fluid way, sometimes going back to the purpose, sometimes moving forward to their opinions. Because we were all clear on what I was looking for, the relaxed nature of the interviews was quite effective. 

The fact that the groups were smaller also helped facilitate quicker responses and prevented boredom from setting in. The students did not seem any less comfortable than they were in the focus groups; I got the impression that everything they stated during the interviews would have been said the same way in the focus groups. Research limitations    

I limited my research to student voices because I wanted to keep my focus strictly on what the kids had to say. My aim was not to get a complete portrait of the boys as Codman students, even though I asked them to reflect on their high school experiences; my aim was to hear what black boys had to say about school and their structural recommendations based on that. Therefore, I did not interview or speak with Codman Academy faculty or other students regarding this project.  

I also limited my research by not addressing student recommendations for teachers. As I wanted to hear what black boys had to say about structural school improvement—in other words, structures that every school could put in place—I did not ask them questions regarding teacher improvement; I considered that to be a separate research project in itself that should be explored more thoroughly.  III Findings  

Findings from focus groups  Introduction  

As the focus group discussions were structured to hear suggestions on how to make schools better, the overall tone was negative, with little positive to say about elementary or middle school experiences overall; the tone for high school was positive overall, with some complaint. The boys' level of reflection, however, yielded an understanding of why many students, including black boys, begin to fall behind in middle school. The subsequent suggestions they had for all three levels of schooling, I believe, are reasonable, intelligent, and can make them better. 

 A) Elementary School 

 Experiences  

Overwhelmingly, the boys felt the purpose of elementary school was to prepare them for middle school. And overwhelmingly, they felt their elementary school experiences had left them unprepared for middle school. They expressed resentment and a feeling of being cheated, because they had assumed middle school would be a continuation of elementary, and could not cope with the higher level of work expected, along with the new social pressures. They felt that they should have been prepared--told explicitly by adults at both the elementary and middle school levels what the differences would be and given specific ways to deal with them.   One reason they felt elementary school left them unprepared was that it was not challenging:  Jeron: My experience...was I felt like I really didn't learn nothing. I mean, I learned something, but it was, like, easy, and I passed with all A's. It wasn't challenging…’cause when I went to middle school, it was like a whole different...  Homework in elementary, or the lack of emphasis on it, also left them feeling unprepared for middle school; they didn't know how to handle having so much thrown at them at one time--going from one to six teachers, and from one homework assignment to six in the course of one year:  Soc: It was the homework…'cause  in elementary, we only had one teacher, so we only got one homework. When I got to middle school, we had six teachers and six different homeworks a night.  Q: Now...why did you just stop doing it?  Soc: Too hard.  Socrates also noted that homework didn't affect his grades in elementary; it therefore was a shock for him when it affected his grades so dramatically in middle school:  Soc: In elementary, the homework isn't worth as much as it is in middle and high school.  'Cause I never did homework in elementary, and I still had B's and A's in all my classes

(in elementary)…I didn't do no homework. It didn't count that much. I still got A's and B's. And when I got to middle school I didn't do no homework, I just did all my classwork. And I was barely passing.  Jeron's feelings about his elementary school experience was so strong that he said, more than once, that "elementary school messed up my whole life." He expressed most eloquently, for several others in the group, the suspicion that elementary school had made him feel smarter than he really was:  Jeron: Because I was gettin' mad good grades, and my mother was proud of me or whatever...and now if I get bad grades, my mother's like, " I know what you're capable of doing." But I mean, really, I can't really do it, though. It's hard.  Q: Now, do you think middle school messed you up, because that's what I thought you said...  Jeron: No, middle school messed me up, but elementary did in a way, too, because I got good grades, and they just gave them to me...  Suggestions for elementary school structure  

To avoid feeling unprepared and cheated, the boys suggested making elementary school more challenging overall. The most effective way to make it more challenging, they said, is to add more homework and make the homework count more. Another suggestion was to structure elementary school more like middle and high school so that middle school is not such a shock.  Jeron said elementary school should have been pushed him harder:  Q: What kinds of things could have made elementary school more challenging, looking back on it?  Jeron: Like, make me work harder; because, like, I did one draft (referring to a writing assignment), and I gave to (the teacher), just gave it to her, and she was like, "It's perfect," she just gave me an A. And I knew it wasn't perfect.  Socrates felt strongly that making the homework count more would help students transition into middle school:  Socrates: In elementary, they have to make homework worth more points, because it seemed like it didn't count, and then when you get to middle school...it's like 30 percent of your grade.  In addition, changing the structure of elementary school to model middle school, with more than one teacher, Socrates said, would ease the transition to middle school: Soc: If elementary school had more than one HW assignment. And more than one teacher. I think they should rotate the teachers like the do in middle school and high school.  

I must note with this suggestion, however, that I did not press Socrates to specify when this rotation should begin in elementary school.  B) Middle School  Experiences  

Middle school appeared to be a most pivotal period for the boys, one that they first felt unprepared for by elementary school; and one during which new interests, pressures and distractions outside of academics emerged, in addition to simultaneous heightened expectations academically. Such a crush of "newness" left many boys in the group feeling overwhelmed, and, having not been given any strategy to even choose to do better, struggling to get by academically.  

The feeling toward school this time was one of hopelessness, of being incapable of doing what had been easy just the year before. This feeling left some of the boys giving up on themselves as students:  Jeron: In elementary school, I used to get mad good grades, but when I got to middle school, the work got harder, so I just gave up...I thought my smartness had disappeared. I thought I was dumb in middle school…I didn't know what was going on, and like, elementary school, I always knew what was going on. At the middle school, I was just lost.  Jerry commented that, like others in the group, the amount of homework overwhelmed him, and, not knowing how to cope, he gave up on it:  Jerry: When I was in elementary school, I only had one teacher, and usually we'd have one or two homeworks…like, 30 minutes. But when I got to middle school, they had me on a schedule where I had, like, seven different classes. And each of them, five of them, I would have homework for.  Q: So was it like, the shock of it was, "Well, if I can't do all of it, I won't do any of it?"  (Several): Yeah...  In addition to feeling suddenly incapable academically, new interests became more important, providing even more difficulty than elementary school in focusing on the newfound difficulty of school work:  Q: Did you all feel it was “cool” to do well in elementary school?  Marlon: Um, I don't know what was cool in elementary school (agreement from the group).  Eric: I think it was just distractions.  Jeron: You just want to fit in.  

Juma: You start buying your own clothes...  Eric: Yeah...  Suggestions for middle school structure  

Just as the purpose of elementary school was seen as preparing students for middle school, middle school was perceived as preparing students for high school. The boys suggested, then, that middle school in general be more structured so that students be prepared for having more freedom in high school. In light of the need for preparation, they also felt it should be more difficult to graduate so that students can't go on to high so academically unprepared.  

Students felt strongly that they needed to be told explicitly what middle school would be like, by both elementary and middle school faculty, and that a middle school orientation would be helpful to them. Marcie, who graduated from Epiphany Middle School, a private middle school in Dorchester that is attended by mostly low-income black students, felt that the structure in that school helped him and would help others as well:  Q: How can the middle school get you ready to have more freedom in high school?  Marcie: I think they should have schools more like Epiphany…Not the hours, but like, something like it. Whenever you need help with something, there’s a teacher right there…(and) the classes are like, 45 minutes, they have seven classes a day.  Q: So you're saying the middle school is very rigid, kind of like structured in way  Marcie: Yeah.  Q: So does that prepare you, having that kind of structure, does it prepare you to have a little less structure later?  Rondell and Marcie: Yeah  Marlon: Um, kinda, yeah.  Corey also noted a need for more structure, connecting a structured environment with a caring one:  Q: Okay. So what would a good middle school do? That your school didn't do or something.  Corey: Uh, I don't know, probably, I don't know, probably be like...in middle school they probably be a little stricter to make you, like, make sure you do your work,  'cause  in middle school, they're really free--well, in my middle school they were really free. They didn't really, like, care if you didn't do your work. But it would be nice if they would make you, like, stay after school to do your work so to make sure that you get it done.  

Franco suggested, with agreement from others in the group, that it shouldn't be so easy to graduate from middle school, because so many students, himself included, leave without having learned anything:  Franco: I think that they should change the grade system, because like, it's kind of too easy to pass in middle school with D's    Several: for real, um-hmm, yeah..  Franco:  'Cause like, if you get a D, you just automatically pass  and graduate and everything, with all D's. The  only way you can get an F is if you don'  tdo nothin' at all. But if you just like, do, like, if you have a essay and you can write, like, half a paragraph, you'll get a D. That's like a 60, and you'll still pass for the whole year.  Q: So you're saying like, they shouldn't make it so easy for you to...slide...  Franco: Like they should make it like...like, all I did was slide by middle school, so...I got D's...(others: laughing)  What surprised me most was the vulnerability the students felt entering middle school and the sincerity with which they expressed the desire to be told by adults in middle school about the new pressures academically and socially in the form of an orientation. The boys wanted very much to have been warned about them, and given structural supports to deal with them:  Q: How could your middle school have made your transition easier for you? Can you think of any things you wish would've happened now?  Jeron: Like, the first day in sixth grade, I wish they would've just told me, you know, "It's a whole different game, how the school is divided--"  Eric: Like, "In school, you got these type of people and these type of people..." (instead), it was like, "You can't bring razors, you can't bring finger nail files, that's the only things they tell you--  Jeron: Yeah...  Eric: Like, "Don't bring guns or weapons...they tell you they're gonna search your lockers every day; they didn't tell you, "If you hang around these types of people, you're gonna get caught up."  (skip a couple of lines)  Q: Now Eric, you still feel like the adults should've sat you down in sixth grade...because I feel like, y'all know this stuff...that "If you hang around with this crowd, certain things are going to happen"...so are you saying that you don't know this stuff? Should we (the adults) not take it for granted? 

 Jeron: Nah, you shouldn't,  'cause...I didn't know.  Eric: I didn't know nothin'.    

The most striking feature of middle school, not surprisingly, that influenced the new interests and distractions, was peer pressure. In observing students' discussion on how much it plays on their decisions and is not going away, I would deduce that middle schools should work to promote a culture of achievement so that peer pressure works to help the students. In other words, middle schools need a culture so strong that it influences peer pressure in a positive direction. I believe that in the absence of a strong culture, peer pressure will operate in a negative fashion, particularly in middle school. Despite Eric's and Jeron's observation of the necessity for a thorough school orientation and continual guidance from adults in the school, they both acknowledged that peer pressure dictated much of what they did and wanted to do:  Jeron: …when it comes down to it and you're at that moment where you can fit in with that group of dudes, if you can fit in, you're going to do it, because you don't want to look like  the outcast.    Eric also remembered wanting to fit in; having gone to two very different middle schools, however, he wanted to fit in in very different ways. Wherever he was, as is typical with middle school students, he wanted to fit in:  Eric: (at Wilson, his first middle school) I was curious...sellin' drugs, I was trying to make money. But at Harbor (the middle school he transferred to in eighth grade), everybody was about education and gettin' A's, and they was mad serious, and they asking the teacher serious questions. So I started gettin' serious with them.  Q: Now do you feel because you were in a more serious environment you wanted to fit into that environment?  Eric: Yeah, I wanted to fit in with them...first I wanted to fit in with the Wilson because that was the only environment I had, but when I switched to the Harbor, I wanted to fit in with them--I didn't want (them) to feel like, "That kid is stupid, he don't do nothin' all day."  

Again, in light of these examples of students' first allegiance to fitting in--even with the possibility of caring adults telling them what's right and what's wrong--it would appear that middle schools are at the mercy to this allegiance, with one exception. If a middle school has a strong culture of achievement and caring, or a strong culture, period, it can dictate the direction of peer pressure. C) High school  Experiences  

The main problem with high school for the boys seemed to be what came to be termed the “pile-up” of work. They appreciated the level of work they were doing, and they felt the difficulty of the work showed the teachers had high expectations of them. The students were greatly concerned, however, that they were unable to cope with how much they were given to do.  

Interestingly, none of the problems cited in elementary and middle school were mentioned for high school. The boys complained about certain teachers, but later on would acknowledge those teachers’ contributions and their understanding that they knew those teachers cared about them. This could be because they were better able to reflect on their elementary and middle school experiences since they were beyond them; however, they didn’t seem to complain beyond the normal level of griping common in healthy (and, I would guess, content) adolescent students. 

Ralph expressed a need for support structures for all the work that is expected of him:   Ralph: About college? Like, I know our school is a college preparatory school-- my sister, she went to Boston Latin and that's also a college prep school, and I be talking to her about the school, and she be lookin’ at stuff, like, “Damn, they stressin' y’all.” She was like, “Our school, your school's harder than Boston Latin.” All that work, it's not going to make you want to do anything, it's going to make you want to drop out…they're making it like it's exactly college, like were in college already.  Soc:  We're not in college. We're in school from Monday to Saturday. We don't get to do homework till Sunday (several chorus in on “Sunday”)...  Later, at the end of the focus group, I asked students for any one suggestion for a change in elementary, middle or high school structure. Rondell, along with two others, said he would change the way work is allowed to pile up in high school.  Rondell: Um, high school, organization.  Q: What do you mean by that?  Rondell: The way they structure their time.  Q: I need something specific, like, what do you mean "way?" What do you mean "structure time?”  Rondell: With their work...how they set up most of their work.  Suggestions for high school structures  

Because the work pile-up was such an issue for the boys—the vast majority commented on it, and all seemed to agree that it was a problem for them—there was considerable attention paid to how to address it. One suggestion was to create study hall time, particularly within the nine-to-five school-hour frame. Another suggestion, which I framed with the students, was for the staff to structure curriculum deliberately together so that there would be a gradual build-up of

work students would have to be able to complete from 9th to 12th grade; so that by 12th grade, students would know to expect more than one major assignment to be due on the same day.  

A third suggestion they had for high school structure was the nine-to-five school day, because it gets students accustomed to a regular workday; and it keeps students out of trouble. They also felt having a small school was beneficial and was a structure that should be duplicated. 

Finally, the boys felt strongly that after-school programs—good ones that made students want to be there—would be helpful in high school. 

It should be noted that the nine-to-five school day, the small school structure and the good after-school programs are all structures of Codman Academy, and it is possible that the students wanted to suggest only what they were accustomed to. In light of their previous reflections on and suggestions for elementary and middle school structure, however, I think it is fair to assume that the boys made suggestions on what was working for them and not just what they were familiar with.  One concern I mentioned with study hall in high school was being prepared for the rigors and freedom of college; I asked if study hall would hinder them in the future, as they would be used to having time built in to their schedule for them to get their work done. Jeron, however, responded that even in college, you could get help with your work, which certainly is true:  Jeron: I think it’s better to have (study hall)  in high school and have a study hall during school and have a study hall after school. In college you’re not going to have it during school but I’m sayin’, it’ll help you better to get all your work done since all the work is piling up, you can get all your work done.  Q: So you’re saying study hall (during the school day) to make sure you understand everything and then (Jeron: yeah) do your work on your own and just make sure you understand everything IN study hall (after school).  Eric: I think that’s good,  ‘cause like, if I’ve got a question on a essay…  

Another suggestion I found interesting was the idea of the staff making a concerted effort to gradually and deliberately introduce the students to more stress by planning together when to make assignments due. By junior and senior years, however, students would understand they would be expected to complete major assignments that would be due on the same day.  

I think this gradual build-up is important particularly for students unaccustomed to a rigorous workload by the time they reach high school; I think introducing more deliberately and gradually, with student knowledge of the process, gives students time to adjust and find strategies for completing more work, while simultaneously preparing them for college-level work. 

As can be seen from the transcript, I framed this suggestion and asked for clarification and agreement; this was an issue that the students could articulate clearly, but with which they had problems producing a solid solution. I did push hard throughout the discussion group and interviews for clear solutions, and in this instance, I framed one myself, as the problem was the

only one articulated for high school. It should be clear, however, that although I framed this suggestion, there was clear agreement from the students on it:  Rondell: I think where we’re at now, I think of it as a second level middle school,’ cause it’s like, you’ll have one piece this day, and you’ll go to another class and get another piece, and it’s due on the same day as the other piece. And when you try to explain it to them, they’re  like,”Oh, we’re sorry, we can’t do anything.” So…it’s all just BS if you ask me.  Q: Now, what would make it feel like it was more high school to you?  Rondell: If they had a certain structure set up on how they want projects due and how the homework’s due for each class…it's like with the classes, they should explain to each other, “Oh, we have this due for this day, and I think you shoud set up your project, have it due for either the day after or some point after (they) have passed this in.”  Juma: So teachers need to schedule what's due around other teachers’ schedules, so if I have a test on Wednesday, that means Kim (another teacher) shouldn’t schedule something due (that same day). She should schedule it the next Monday or something like that.  All: Yeah...yep…  (…students complaining about certain classes…)    Q: But let me ask you this, Rondell, I would think, well, in college, it's going to be like that—you’re going to have things due the same day, believe me! But maybe in high school, would you say that maybe in ninth and tenth grade, maybe you could--it would be more collaborative, and then maybe in eleventh and twelfth, it would be more planning, like, saying, “Okay, y’all, now we're going to get you ready (for college), so you're gonna have a project due--so maybe more warning instead of saying,”Oops, sorry, this is how it is...”  Rondell: Yeah, instead of just droppin’ it on us.  Marlon: To me, it’s like, I don' t want to be babied, I just want you to give it to me straight up so that I know what to expect later on in life. It’s like, so like, when I get older or whatever, it won't be no surprise to me that everything's coming at me at the same time. So to me, it's not a good thing to get everything at the same time but it's...  Q: But see, that's what I'm saying, though… in ninth and tenth grade, maybe it's structured so that y’all have things close but not necessarily the same day; and then maybe in eleventh and twelfth grade, you have it the same day--  Jeron: Yeah...  Q: But you know you have...it doesn't pile up as much because you're kind of prepared for how to think of it, you know what I mean?  

Marlon: Yeah…  The boys agreed that the nine-to-five school day and the small school structure of Codman Academy benefited them because they felt they were being prepared for the “real world;” they felt they were being kept out of trouble; and they felt safe and cared for—despite the heavy workload:  Eric: It’s alright…the way I see it, in public school, (mentioned he went to East) you choose to fail or you choose to succeed, and most people in the school choose to fail, like, skipping school…I ain’t gon lie, I was leaving school early cause I didn’t want to do nothing; cause you’ll get homework from one class and all the classes, it’s nothing…people smoking in the class... so I think this is more disciplined, the charter school, you know, nine-to-five, they’re helping you, but not really, cause they pile all the work up…  Q: But you think the nine-to-five scheduling is better.  Eric: Yeah.  (Several others): It keeps you out of trouble.    Eric: But it’s like, you know what you said about public school? The thing about skipping school, it’s no reason to skip school here; you do learn--the structure is bad, but you do learn. In public school, I think that most kids would skip school, like be out of school or pull the fire alarm so they can get out. And in this school, the community is so small, you’ll actually want to stay.    Jeron: Yeah…  Q: So you think also that it’s a small school?    Several others: Yeah…  Socrates: Everybody knows each other; and they see everything anyway, it’s nothing but glass (windows within the school building).  The last suggestion made for high school was good after-school programs. In announcing this idea for high school, Ralph expressed concern for students who want to do well and don’t want to get “caught up” in activities that could be harmful:  Q: (Can you name) structures that high schools, middle schools and then elementary schools would have…  Ralph: Start up some programs, because, like, a lot of black people, they’re getting in trouble and stuff…so the people that’s in school, they need to have programs that’ll get them interested so they can stay in school.  Q: You mean after-school programs? 

 Ralph: Yeah…that’ll keep them in school, keep them doing their work, keep their head focused, keep their mind where it’s supposed to be.  Marlon: After school programs that are fun, that make you want to do it…’cause some of ‘em ain’t even all that…they’re boring.  Marquise: The boys and girls club…like, whenever I was done with my homework, I could just, like, play pool, basketball…  One last word about high school suggestions: the boys’ experience of peer pressure—exerted positively—continued to highlight the conversation about their feelings on academic achievement. I would like to point out two examples of the use of a strong, academic culture and how that sways peer pressure in a positive direction:   Eric: It's like...monkey see, monkey do, because it's like, you see people getting A's. And it's like, why do you want to be chillin' with the person you see gettin' A's  while you be in class clowning? And you getting’ C's and just barely passing...and it's like, you want to do the same thing that person's doing, so just take advantage--do the same thing he's doing, but you ain't gotta be him, ain't gotta  follow him, you gotta play the same role he's doing...just be a leader.  Similarly, Jeron (in a separate discussion) emphasized a positive competitive culture within Codman:  Jeron: It's a competition for me, you know? I mean, if I see somebody getting good grades, getting B's , I'm going to try to get a B+ or something.  D) Across the board: Suggestions made for elementary, middle and high school levels  

Two areas students felt needed to be addressed in all three levels of schooling were the promotion of more parent involvement; and concern with being put with “bad” kids.  

Students wanted to feel like their parents knew what was going on with them in middle and high school academically and socially. They felt it was important that parents receive report cards on a regular basis. The boys also felt strongly that parent-teacher conferences be used for teachers to tell their parents “what’s really going on” and not gloss over serious problems to inform them of upcoming events. They wanted this kind of honest interaction through high school. 

The second concern that followed across school levels was being put in an environment in which other students would prevent them from learning, or worse, put them in dangerous situations. 

These suggestions, which were mentioned in both discussions by different students, were made sincerely and with heartfelt concern. They show, along with the others, that these boys do see school, for better or worse, as a way to better themselves; and that, despite obstacles and seeming indifference, they want to do so very badly.  

Eric commented that he thinks his mother believes she’s not supposed to be as involved as he gets older. Socrates agreed, saying his parents’ involvement dropped off as well in middle school; however, he believes schools should play a bigger role in promoting more parental involvement.   Eric: I think that the parents…I was doing  mad good in elementary, then I fell off…(and my mother said) “I ain’t gonna baby you, either you do it or you don’t.” My mother used to come up and was like, “How’s Eric doing? Good? Alright.” But when I started doing bad (in middle school), she said, “I ain’t comin’ up no more.” She got tired of hearing the bad reports. “Either you gonna get it or you ain’t.” (his mother)   Q: So do you feel like if you’d had…or, if the middle school made it so parents had to come more and had to be more involved, or do you feel like your mother believed (that she didn’t have to be as involved?  Eric: She just believed it.  Q: Okay, so it’s a parent belief.  Soc: (You know) how in middle school, your parents just let go of you, because from sixth to eighth grade, my parents never saw my report card. They just asked me how am I doing, and when I got my report card, I would throw it away…It’s the schools, too, they should try to get the parents more involved.  Q: In what ways?  Soc: By mailing the report cards.  At the end of the second focus group, I asked the boys for any one suggestion on how to make elementary, middle or high school better; Jeron and Socrates both stated strongly that they did not want to go to school with kids who they felt would be a detriment to their learning. Socrates had stated this concern earlier in the discussion, and he emphasized it again as his one final and major contributing suggestion for schools:  Soc: One thing I said about middle school, they just piled us with the bad kids with people who had good grades and it made it harder for the good kids. Because people who got kicked out of other schools would come to the Wilson...  Jeron expressed the same concern in his final contributing suggestion:  Jeron: Um, I say get rid of the kids who don't want to learn, the dumb kids...not dumb, but they don't want to learn--  Juma: Not serious. The kids who are not serious.  Jeron: Yeah, like, not serious... 

 Findings    Findings from interviews  Introduction    

The focus of the interviews was to find out the students’ opinions of what the literature says about schools that are most helpful to black boys. In light of this focus, the tone of the discussion was positive, with little complaint; the teachers the boys had complained about vehemently in the focus groups were the same teachers the boys pointed out as caring in the small group interviews.  

In the interviews, the boys agreed that the items the literature points to as helpful to black boys in achieving academic and social success—a caring environment; stimulating curriculum; and a discipline system that is not overemphasized—are important to them, although these items were not given much attention in the focus groups. Perhaps this is because my purpose during the focus groups was to find specific ways, things schools could do, to help black boys, as opposed to the more general, overarching themes I found in the literature. 

The curriculum and discipline system, however, both seemed to derive for the boys from the caring culture of the school: they knew the curriculum was challenging because the faculty cared enough to challenge them; they knew the discipline would be fair and based on understanding them because Meg, the head of school, cared for them. 

A final point about the interviews is that the boys felt that Codman Academy provided the three things the literature pointed to as most helpful to black boys: they felt cared for and that they could safely care for others; they felt their classes were challenging; and they felt the discipline system was fair and that Meg, the head of school, wanted to help them even when disciplining them. I Reasons a caring environment is important    

The boys agreed overwhelmingly that a caring environment improved their academic performance; emotional wellbeing; and their social growth. They said caring affects how they feel about doing their work and the quality of work they are willing to put forth; it affects the way teachers interact with them; it affects their desire and willingness to come to school daily; and it affects the way they see their classmates.  A caring environment and student work   Students expressed their opinion that a caring environment affects the level of  work they do; in a caring environment, Eric said, he is more willing to work hard to earn good grades:  Q: So do you think that a caring environment is beneficial, or do you think you would just get your work done wherever you went?  Eric: Umm...nah. I think caring is important...like, it's just so important because it's like, if you're used to Boston Public Schools, then, that's not a caring environment, because people don't care what you do. You come to class, you can, like, pass with D's. But at this school, even if you pass with C's, you did a lot of work.  

A caring environment also impacts academic performance, according to the students. Rondell said that his schoolwork has improved because he feels he can go to his teachers to discuss it:   Rondell: And if you have to talk to somebody, you always have somebody to listen also.  Q: Okay, now, how important is that to you in doing well academically?  Rondell: Cause it's like, with my work, sometimes, it stresses me and so it's like, I need someone there for me to talk to…So I know I can usually go to either one of my friends or I can go to my advisory teacher, or teachers  that I trust, I can talk to them, like, "yeah...I'm stressin’ over this piece of work because of this and this" and they'll be there to help me out…last year, it was like, I wasn't really asking for help, and this year, now that I'm asking for help, it's...I’m doing much better.  Why it is important that teachers care Teachers’ actions and the way they interact with students mattered a great deal to the boys. Because the teachers act in a caring way, students are more willing to put forth more effort. In this instance, Ralph says, a caring teacher is important because it is only then that he or she wants to help students do their best:   Ralph: When I went to Eastie (East Boston High School?), there was this paper that I turned in. I felt like I did it right...I got a lot of research, I had like three pages, I turned it in…And she said it was incomplete, and she ripped it in front of me. And that, you know, that wasn't right. But here (at Codman), they'll help you, they'll give you a chance to revise it, they'll help you get better, I think...they're showing they care; they're showing how they care for you.  Another reason the students felt it was important for teachers to care was so that they (the teachers) would push the students to challenge themselves:  Soc: Another thing is, they make you want to do your work…’cause when I was in middle school, when I wrote something and I gave it to the teachers, I don' think they looked at it; they just put a grade on it and gave it back. When I do it here, Kim or whoever the teacher is, they put comments on it where I could do better or whatever, and when I get it, fix it up or whatever. And then I hand it back. Every time I do something I want to do it to see where I can improve in my work.  A caring environment encourages students to care for each other     Students agreed strongly that they felt safe to care for each other at school—and that that mattered a great deal to them; the fact that they cared for each other kept all the students safe; and it made them want to come to school every day:  Q: So...do you all feel like you care about each other as students?  All three: (vigorously) yeah...  

Jeron: Like, me personally? I care about everybody in the school...cause it's like we're all family. Like, a couple of days ago, something went down in school, and it's like, we all had each other's backs, you know, so I feel like we all care for each other here.  Soc: It makes you want to...it gets you up early  Jeron: (laughing) Yeah...  Ralph: Like, during vacation, like I don't want to have vacation, I'd rather be at school…    Jeron: For real…  Q: Really? Why?    Ralph: It's fun here. (Soc  laughing, agreeing) It's like, home here.  Soc: Like on Saturday, I didn't have no school--  Ralph and Jeron: Yeah, yeah…  Soc: So I just come up here. Just to talk to people…  Ralph: Just come up here, to do our work, just to chill.  II Discipline policy  

The most telling thing about the discipline policy is that after asking about it several times in the focus groups and in the interviews, I never became quite clear on what it was, until, finally, one student said while others laughed, “It’s not really a policy.” Students felt the school’s focus was not so much on punitive discipline as it was on working to understand people’s motivations and acting from that understanding.  

The policy on fights reflects this focus, as do the students’ understanding in their personal responsibility in not taking advantage of “caring discipline.” When asked about Meg’s treatment while disciplining students, the boys said they understand that no matter what she is doing, they know she cares; and that makes them want to be in school. Also, as the boys pointed out, other school structures, such as the caring environment and small school structure, make punitive discipline a much less necessary focus.  One reason it seemed there was no clear discipline policy was that other structures already in place prevented discipline problems from occurring:  Jeron: You can't skip a class.  Q: Why?  Ralph: It's too small.    

Soc: Everybody notice you're missing  Jeron: You can't really,  ‘cause all the teachers are around.  The boys pointed out that discipline was handled in a way that assumed the parties involved needed to understand each other, as opposed to simply be punished. Before anyone is disciplined, then—in this case, after a fight—students have to talk to each other. As Rondell points out, this method of disciplining helps keep student relations smooth:  Rondell: Well, most of time, it's like, if you're fighting, they're going to have you sit down with the person that you fought with…And talk about it first before they do the consequences.  Q: Really? Oh, Okay...and how helpful is that?  Rondell: I think it's good because...I would say there's quite a few people that probably got in a fight...like, a good three or four groups of people got in a fight and sat down and talked about it. And like, after a while, you'll see them back in the school talking to each other...like it was just a regular thing. So I would say talking makes it easier.  

Because the policy seemed so relax compared to the discipline policies in other schools, my concern with it was whether students wanted to take advantage of it—even if they knew they couldn’t do so effectively because other structures were already in place that would make this difficult.   In asking several students in different interviews, however, I got the same answer: they don’t want to take advantage of the policy, because to do so would reflect badly on them as students and as people:   Rondell: But like, fighting and swearing at teachers and stuff like that, we don't take advantage of it.  ‘Cause it's like, we don't want to get suspended for a stupid reason, ‘cause most of the time, fights are over stupid reasons…So it's like, you try to stay away from that. So we don't try to take advantage of it.  Q: Okay. Do you feel like you can take advantage of it?  Eric: In a way. I think, well, basically, yeah. Um, I used to swear.  Q: So what made you stop?  Eric: I don't know...I don't like doing it. It just...it's just an image...I don't want to be that image anymore…‘Cause it's bad...like, you're the bad guy. Teachers are going to look at you differently. For me, it's real important the way the teachers are going to look at me…  Meg’s treatment of students while disciplining them—even expelling them—mattered to the boys; they knew they couldn’t take advantage of her, but they trusted her always to be fair. This kind of treatment made them want to stay in school:   

Eric: One on one? Maybe she'll talk to you about, like, how she thinks of you, and it's not always, like...it's never bad. Even if you're the baddest student and you get suspended, she still cares for you. Even if you get expelled, she still allows you to come back, and she still works with you to try to get you into a Metco Program. So I think she really does care, though.  Q: And is that significant? Does that matter? Does that make you want to come every day?  Rondell: Yeah, I would say so, because it's like, at first, I thought this wasn't going to be the school for me because I was like, "It doesn't have the sport that I want to play."…So I was like, I don't even want to be here. And after a while, after being here for like two, three months, and I was messin' up and I seen how much the teachers were trying to help me, I saw that...I was like, this isn't going to be the same treatment that I would probably get if I had went to Eastie…So...I took advantage of it.  III Curriculum  

The boys equated the challenging curriculum with being cared for. Being challenged, they said, made them feel safe in school. It also made them feel like the faculty cared enough to prepare them for college—the students prefaced most statements about the difficulty of the curriculum with a comment about how the school was a “college preparatory” school. Conversation about curriculum did not focus on how fun or engaging the work was; conversation focused on the belief that the teachers in the school believed in them enough to push them as hard as they felt they were being pushed.  Students expressed that although the work was difficult—or perhaps because the work was difficult—they knew were being cared for and prepared for college, because their teachers believed in them:  Ralph: This school is different from any other school, cause they, it's like the work, it’s like college in here. So I feel safer, I feel like I’m doing all my work, I feel like I'm on top of everything.  Even when complaining about the work, students believed in the purpose of it—preparing them for college—to the degree that they organized their priorities around it:   Eric: It's like, not that the work is challenging, but it's college preparatory--everything is college preparatory, so it's like, you gotta manage your time. You got essays due every week, you gotta manage your time, just like you're in college. My friends...gotta come second to my work, gotta get done, know what I mean?  Students also thought that the kind of curriculum a school has defines how good it is. If the curriculum is difficult—but given and supported in a caring way—a student is in a good school:   Q: How important do you think interesting curriculum is…in having a good school?  Ralph: I think it's real important. But, like, just some classes, like Humanities, its like, work they give us, is like, its' really hard. But you know, she tells us that we can, she's trying to encourage us, to tell us that we could do it, you know, it's not that hard. If I could do it, you could do it; if

anybody else could do it, you could do it…But like, you know, we don't ever give up. You know, we just keep doing it.   IV Discussion    Summary of findings from focus groups and interviews    The boys suggested the following structures for elementary school: 

1. That it be more rigorous so that students are better prepared for the challenges of high school, specifically by having homework count more toward their grades; and by being given more homework.  2. That it be structured more like middle school, with teacher rotation, to prepare students for this structure once they enter middle school.  

 The students suggested the following structures for middle school:  1. That middle school itself be highly structured; having been in a more disciplined and rigid environment previously, students will be better able to handle more freedom in high school. 

 2. That middle school begin with an orientation that will explain to students the new pressures they may find at this level of schooling: peer pressure; academic pressure; dealing with the opposite sex. And that the orientation leaders provide strategies and ongoing support for students to deal with these pressures as they arise.  3. That more is required for students to graduate—letting students graduate with D’s does not serve them when they go on to high school.  The students suggested the following structures for high school: 1. That teachers make a deliberate effort to structure major assignments in ninth and tenth grades without too much overlap (having major assignments due the same day); and then structure major assignments with more overlap in eleventh and twelfth grades. In this way, students learn gradually how to accommodate a heavier workload and are prepared for college, having had support in knowing how to plan for multiple assignments. 

 2. That high schools run on a nine-to-five schedule so that students are accustomed to a “real world” working schedule and so that they are kept out of trouble with longer hours.  3. That high schools are kept small so that a sense of community pervades the school.  4. That after-school programs be instituted to keep students in productive activities; the programs, however, must be interesting and make the students want to come to it.  **One thing that I deduced from the boys’ reflections on their middle and high school experiences is that school culture can exert a powerful influence on peer pressure and turn it into a motivating force for students to do well socially and academically. I would add, then, as a

suggestion from the students (given implicitly), that schools, particularly middle and high schools, focus on creating a strong culture that encourages peer pressure in a positive way.  How do my research findings compare with literature review recommendations?  

The boys did not explicitly articulate on their own that they wanted a caring environment; nor did they recommend any change to the discipline system. They did, however, specify the importance of challenging curriculum, specifically in elementary school.  

This could be in part because I focused them toward specific suggestions and recommendations; it could also be because this group of adolescents may be more likely to associate school with academics only and therefore make recommendations only in this area.  

Another possibility is that a caring environment, a change in the discipline system and challenging curriculum assume a safe, functioning educational environment, along with students who meeting educational standards. Many of the students did not feel challenged in their elementary schools (although they were unaware of it at the time), and the majority did not feel safe in their middle schools and were barely passing. Their recommendations, then, may have centered more around creating conditions that would allow the literature review recommendations to be possible. 

Again, in the focus groups, which occurred without any mention of what I’d found in the literature, the boys did not recommend specifically a caring environment. However, when asked during the interviews about the importance of caring in schools, they overwhelmingly agreed that caring is vital to academic achievement, and behavior and emotional wellbeing in school.  

Furthermore, I would posit that their recommendations—for example, being challenged in elementary school, having a middle school orientation and a more structured assignment schedule in high school—imply that administrators and teachers who implement them do care about them; the students equate honest, firm, fair and kind treatment and interaction with adults in school, in addition to curriculum that is challenging and stimulating, with caring. In other words, a school that has and does those things is caring—and effective; a school that does not is not caring—and ineffective. An effective school, then, is a caring one. 

I found that the students held the same implicit assumption regarding the discipline issue: a school with a discipline policy that aims to help students but punishes when necessary is, again, an effective school. While discipline was not mentioned specifically in the focus groups, the boys readily acknowledged the importance of how it is handled once asked about it during the interviews.  

The literature asserts that more effective schools for black boys will rethink discipline policies, such as suspension and expulsion, that are harmful to their academic achievement. While the boys never stated that the discipline policies should be reconsidered, some recounted stories of having been suspended “for no reason” in middle school during the focus groups and that they missed a substantial amount of class time because of these suspensions. 

Furthermore, when asked during interviews what they thought about the discipline policy at Codman, they all agreed that it was fair, because they knew Meg aimed not to suspend them. In addition, the students articulated that she made it clear that she did not want to suspend them because she knew suspensions would hurt their chances of getting into good colleges. It mattered to them a great deal that Meg’s reasoning was in their best interest.  

When I told them about the research on the importance of school discipline policies and their effects on academic achievement during the interviews, they also agreed that Codman’s

discipline policy, or lack thereof specifically, helped them academically, because they were extremely aware that their academic records needed to be clear to attend college.  

The students also believed that Codman’s discipline policy helped them socially; the fact that students had to communicate with each other after a verbal or physical altercation promoted positive social skills, and it helped students see that angry feelings can be resolved through communication. 

The one literature review recommendation that the boys did mention explicitly during the focus groups was stimulating curriculum—more specifically, more challenging curriculum in elementary school. I think, however, that the students meant “more challenging” in the sense that they would be prepared for the rigors of middle school and not just curricular stimulation as a means in itself to motivate students.  

Also, the students said they knew they were cared for at Codman because of the challenging, “college prep” curriculum. Curriculum for them, and the way it is used, is a direct expression of how school leaders and teachers feel about them.  

In conclusion, the boys did not explicitly make the same recommendations that were suggested in the literature review. However, when they were asked about the importance and effect of a caring environment, a carefully considered discipline policy and stimulating curriculum, the students agreed with the researchers whole-heartedly that these three things made a great deal of difference in their academic performance, as well as their social and emotional wellbeing.   V Conclusion    What I learned    

From conducting this research, I learned that even the most marginalized children in this country—black boys—desire strongly to learn, to be challenged. I also learned that a caring environment is one in which they can thrive in; I now agree more than ever with Noguera’s bold statement that a caring environment being the most important determinant for black boys’ academic success. 

Another thing I learned that I plan to continue as a school leader is listening to students; I believe the boys’ recommendations, can make schools better. I was especially struck by the level of reflection I saw in the students when discussing the elementary and middle school levels. I think having high school students discuss their experiences with elementary and middle school administrators and teachers could be highly instructive for these levels of schooling.  

And it is vitally important that those who are failing—or rather, who are being failed by the education system—are listened to. In doing so, school leaders can understand these students instead of relying upon statistics, and even individual actions; I know that understanding why many of the black boys I spoke with for this project gave up academically in middle school helped me understand why I saw the same thing happen with my own students. Suggestions for future research    

I would suggest future research in the areas of high school students’ opinions on various aspects of the elementary and middle school levels of schooling; and the effects of a caring culture on the academic and social success of black boys. 

 As stated earlier, I believe that hearing what students have to say about school is vitally important, as their voices provide a perspective no one else can give. I think particular attention

should be given to students’ reflections on past years as opposed to reflection on their current level of schooling. By the tenth and eleventh grade years of  high school, I believe students have the distance and maturity to consider and reflect upon their elementary and middle school experiences in a way that could be helpful to school leaders and teachers. I would be particularly interested in the effects of an ongoing dialogue between elementary and middle school teachers, administrators, district-level administrators and high school students in changing elementary and middle school policy. 

I also think future research would be helpful in finding the academic and social effects of a caring school culture on black boys. Based on my research, a caring culture dictates how discipline is handled and how curriculum is geared—both major determinants in black boys’ success, according to the literature. I think finding schools that focus on caring and examining black boys’ academic and social progress in those schools could provide valuable information on the impact of caring for school administrators. Defining a “caring” culture for black boys, however, may also be necessary before determining the effects of it; this definition could be another valuable research endeavor. 

These two suggestions are aimed at changing the ways schools are perceived, so that policy and school structure are changed in ways that benefit all students, but particularly black boys.